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Revised A levels: Little difference in pass rates
Author: Ho Ai Li
Source: The Straits Times
Date: 8 Mar 2008
Despite having to study wider range of subjects, Class of 2007 did just as well as 2006 peers.
FEARS that revised A-level curriculum would lead to lower scores proved unfounded yesterday when results of the exams were released.
There was little difference between the 2007 cohort's grades and those of Class of 2006, even though junior college students have to study for a wider range of subjects.
Another first: A pioneering batch of students cleared the A-level hurdle, despite not having to go through the O levels.
Some 87.5 per cent of the 13,053 students who took the exams scored at least three passes in the new Higher 2 (H2) subjects and passed General Paper (GP) or Knowledge and Inquiry (KI). The new H2 subjects are equivalent to the previous A-level subjects in terms of demand and intellectual challenge. This rate was a slight drop from the 88.2 per cent in 2006.
The Ministry of Education said this was a 'rough' comparison as the new curriculum is 'not directly comparable' with the previous one.
The new course was rolled out two years ago to allow students to delve into a wider range of subjects.
Students take at least three H2 subjects and an H1 subject - which is pitched at the same level of difficulty but with half the topics.
One of these must be a 'contrasting subject'. So students in the Arts stream must take a maths or science class, and vice versa. They continue to take GP, Project Work and Mother Tongue at H1 level, somewhat similar to AO levels.
Nanyang Junior College principal Kwek Hiok Chuang said the results showed that students and teachers coped well with a more demanding curriculum. 'The level of thinking needed is higher and the questions are those which have never been seen before,' he said.
Catholic Junior College principal Brother Paul Rogers said: 'The syllabus is not easy, but because everybody is so much more anxious to attain good results, we did better than the year before.'
The college saw higher distinction rates in H2 Economics, Biology and Literature, which went from 40.9 in 2006 to 45.7 per cent.
Raffles Junior College (RJC) declined to name its top students, but said it had 59 with perfect scores. Hwa Chong Institution reported 63 perfect scorers.
Six RJC students scored the maximum nine distinctions, as did three at Hwa Chong Institution. About half of RJC's 1,236 students who took the A levels last year scored at least four distinctions.
RJC's Amelia Chang, 19, had nine distinctions. She aced Biology, Chemistry and Maths, and Economics at H1 level. She also got the top scores in GP, Project Work, Higher Mother Tongue and her two H3 subjects, similar to the old 'Special' papers.
The older of two children of a company vice-president and Chinese teacher hopes to become a researcher. She was among the 1,660 through-train students who took the A levels this year.
Their colleges - Raffles, Hwa Chong and National - declined to give details about how they did.
Their results were 'similar to their non-IP (integrated programme) peers as well as the 2006 cohort from these schools', said a Ministry of Education spokesman.
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